President Barack H. Obama: ‘End This Government Shutdown’

Source:The White House– President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) 44th President of the United States of America.

“Weekly Address: End the Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama said that Republicans in the House of Representatives chose to shut down the government over a health care law they don’t like. He urged the Congress to pass a budget that funds our government, with no partisan strings attached. The President made clear he will work with anyone of either party on ways to grow this economy, create new jobs, and get our fiscal house in order for the long haul — but not under the shadow of these threats to our economy.”

From Dazzle Site

What Democrats should be doing especially the Democratic National Committee and the House Democratic Leadership, is pressuring vulnerable House Republicans in their districts and urging voters there to call their Republican Representatives and urging them to end this government shutdown by coming out in favor of the Senate passed government funding bill, that has House Republican budget numbers (not Democratic) but is a clean funding bill without outside language in it, like repealing or defunding the Affordable Care Act.

You get 20-30 House Republicans to come out in favor of this and even be in favor of a discharge petition to get the Senate funding bill on the House floor, Speaker Boehner would see he no longer has the votes to block the Senate bill and would call for a vote of it himself to avoid being embarrassed by it on the House floor. Or would stick with the House Tea Party Caucus in order to not lose his job. Either way, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would be able to get the Senate bill to the House floor and the government shutdown would be over.

Read Full Post »

The McLaughlin Group: American Exceptionalism

“The McLaughlin Group 9/13/13”

From The McLaughlin Group

The simple fact that the most of the democratic world tends to look to America when there’s a crisis like this dealing with human rights and humanitarian crisis’, is the perfect example of American exceptionalism. But that can be used to go too far when you think your power is unlimited.

Read Full Post »

PBS Newshour: ‘Shields and Brooks on Secretary John Kerry’s Role in Syria Talks’

Source:PBS NewsHour– Mark Shields, David Brooks, and Judy Woodruff.

“Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s top political news, including U.S. diplomatic efforts on Syria and John Kerry’s influence as secretary of state, the lack of leverage for leading lawmakers among their own parties and the 2008 financial collapse.”

From the PBS NewsHour

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

To get a real negotiated deal that isn’t an embarrassment to anyone who believes in human rights has to have a real threat of force that means America doesn’t take military force off the table coming from them. And doesn’t take arming the Syrian rebels off the table as well.

What the Assad Regime would get in return is that America wouldn’t take Bashar Al-Assad out-of-power with a military intervention. As long as the Assad Regime doesn’t use weapons of mass destruction against their own people again. In return what America and the Syrian rebels get in return is the Assad Regime giving up their chemical weapons. While the Syrian opposition and the Assad Regime continue to decide the future of Syria, without the international community stepping in militarily with an invasion.

That would be the best deal that the West and Syrian opposition could live with and save face and now reward the Assad Regime for gassing their own people, which would be a horrible precedent to set.

Read Full Post »

PBS NewsHour: Gwen Ifill- ‘ObamaCare Battles in the House as Budget Loom’

Source:PBS NewsHour– President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) 44th President of the United States.

“As Congress returns to Capitol Hill this week, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is in a bind to pass major spending bills before the Oct. 1 fiscal year deadline. Gwen Ifill speaks with Todd Zwillich of Public Radio International about how the battle over Obamacare threatens to shut down the government.”

From the PBS NewsHour 

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

Politically a so-called ObamaCare battle in Congress and with the White House over the budget helps Democrats, because this would be there 1995 government shutdown battle over the deficit and entitlement programs, that President Bill Clinton in the end won politically.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats can easily make the case: “Look, we want to fund the Federal Government and do the responsible thing here. But those damn Tea Party Republicans in the House and Senate as well want to shut down the government, unless they get exactly what they want, which is destroying the Affordable Care Act something that has already been passed into law, ruled constitutional and still in business today,

House Republicans do not have the power to repeal the law on their own. Remember, not only do Republicans do not control the White House but they don’t have a Republican Congress either. Because they only control the lower chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives. Which means they have to work with a Democratic President and Senate to get anything put into law. Which means both sides can’t get everything they want and have to work together. And Americans want both parties to work together.

So if the government shuts down over the Affordable Car Act, Republicans will get the blame and pay a heavy price for it in 2014.

Read Full Post »

CNN: Piers Morgan Tonight- Nicholas Kristof: ‘Vladimir Putin Exudes Hypocrisy in Op-Ed’

Source:CNN– New York Times left-wing columnist Nicholas Kristof.

“Nicholas Kristof talks about Vladimir Putin being a hypocrite in the New York Times Op-ed and the U.S. response to Syria. More from CNN at:CNN.”

From CNN

If President Putin was actually serious about ending the violence in Syria, he would stop arming the Assad Regime that is using the weapons against their own people. Just throwing out a thought there. But sometimes commonsense is needed because people run out of it or ignore it.

Read Full Post »

PBS: Newshour: ‘Shields and Brooks on President Obama’s Syria Address’

Source:PBS NewsHour– President Barack H. Obama (Democrat, Illinois) speaking about Syria from The White House.

“Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff to discuss President Barack Obama’s address to the nation on the Assad regime’s chemical weapons attack in Syria, the state of diplomatic efforts and prospects for Congressional authorization of a U.S. military strike.”

From the PBS NewsHour

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

I believe President Obama at the end of the day helped himself with Congress which at the end of the day quite frankly is all he needs theoretically depending on your position on the War Powers Act. Not Congress as a whole but Congressional Democrats in the House and Senate with enough Republicans by the time they vote.

If the President follows through after this speech to pass his resolution narrowly in the House and Senate because of his argument about we can’t allow dictators to go unpunished when they murder their own people and that we do not want to see Americans be hit by these same weapons as well that they have to be put out of business for our security and our allies as well as the Syrian people, then this will be a constructive moment for his presidency.

Read Full Post »

PBS NewsHour: Hari Sreenivasan- ‘White House Makes Emotional Appeal on Syria’

Source:PBS NewsHour– USA Today Chief Congressional Corespondent Susan Davis.

“Susan Davis, Chief Congressional Reporter for USA Today, spoke with Hari Sreenivasan about how many days — or weeks — it might take for President Obama to get a final vote for a military strike on Syria.”

From the PBS NewsHour

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

Looks like at least according to Susan Davis (and there’s an all-American name if I ever heard one) and I do not have any reason to doubt her, that President Obama gives his big speech on Syria Tuesday night (which I’ll blog about as well then) and depending on how that speech goes the Democratic Senate led by Leader Harry Reid, will vote on the Syrian resolution by the weekend or by the end of next weekend. And depending on how that goes the Republican House led by Speaker John Boehner, will hold their vote next week. So the President still has time to sell his resolution to Congress and the country as a whole. But how successful he’s at this week will decide whether or not he gets his resolution or not.

Read Full Post »

PBS Newshour: ‘Shields & Brooks on Syria as Test For President Obama’s Credibility’

Source:PBS NewsHour– political analyst and syndicated columnist Mark Shields.

“Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss President Barack Obama’s decision to take the Syrian crisis to Congress and the historical implications if the president is unable to win over lawmakers in a vote on national security.”

From the PBS NewsHour

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

Even though I’m with President Obama on his Syria policy at least the one he came out with in the last two weeks on why he believes America should intervene in Syria militarily, the problem is that the previous two years his policy wasn’t very clear and he’s paying a price for that now. And having to appeal to a country that is simply tired of that and doesn’t want to see our military get involved anywhere else in the world. But at the end of the day because of the evidence that his national security team will give Congress both Representatives and Senators in both parties, he’ll get the votes he needs for Syria.

Read Full Post »

CBS News: ‘President Obama on Syria strike: This Is Not Iraq, And This is Not Afghanistan

Source:CBS News– President Obama in-between Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Minority Leader. Perhaps intentionally there to keep the two leaders from scratching, clawing, and choking each other. But I don’t know that for sure.

“The U.S. military plan for Syria is “proportional, it is limited, it does not involve boots on the ground,” President Obama told reporters ahead of his first meeting with lawmakers since announcing he would seek congressional authorization to strike in the civil war-torn country. “This is not Iraq, and this is not Afghanistan.”

Flanked by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio – who later announced his support for a Syrian military strike – Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and members of both parties from key national security committees, Mr. Obama said the plan, developed by the Joint Chiefs of staff, will degrade Syrian President Bashar Assad’s capabilities amid mounting evidence he used chemical weapons against his own people.”

From CBS News

The difference between Syria and Iraq is that we know that Syria had weapons of mass destruction, rather than assuming that they do.

Read Full Post »

PBS: Newshour: Ray Saurez- ‘Labor Secretary Thomas Perez Reflects on the Future of Unions’

Source:PBS NewsHour– U.S. Secretary of Labor Tomas Perez on the PBS NewsHour.

“Despite a continuing decline of union membership in America, Labor Sec. Thomas Perez remains optimistic about the future of organized labor. “If we are going to bring jobs back, if we’re going to build a robust economy, we have got to recognize that we’re all in this together,” Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in this interview excerpt with PBS NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez.”

From the PBS NewsHour

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

Secretary Thomas Perez made one good point that stood out with me about choice. As a Liberal, I believe in freedom of choice and I’m pro-choice on practically everything, short of hurting innocent people with the choices that we make.

The right to choose or not to choose a labor union is a perfect example of this. Big Government shouldn’t force workers to either join a union or prevent them from joining a union, for the simple fact that government couldn’t know what’s the best economic choice for people they’ve never even met. Let workers make this crucial economic decision for themselves and let the private market decide how important labor unions are in America.

Read Full Post »